Wednesday, November 2, 2011

The Library Is Your Friend

As I kid, I spent many hours each summer at the Grace A. Dow Memorial Library in Midland, Michigan. I’d hop on my bike and ride over there, then I’d hunt in the shelves for reading miracles. I found plenty. One summer, I spiced things up by picking books randomly. I read some weird things that summer.

When I started ballet lessons, I scoured the library for All Books Ballet. The library did not disappoint. I read several books by Agnes de Mille long before I was able to execute a grand jeté en tournant. The library was instrumental in assuring my addiction to dance and to dance history.

Further cementing my dedication to libraries, I worked at University libraries as a college student. I got to work in several departments: stacks, US government documents, microforms, periodicals, and the medical reserve desk.

Later, I was teaching college students. During my stint on the faculty of the University of Nebraska Medical Centerin the Division of Physical Therapy Education, I taught courses in “critical inquiry”: evidence-based practice, statistics, and research methods. I often told the physical therapy students, “The library is your friend!” So many resources, so much information, such wonderfully helpful librarians…..What’s not to love about libraries?

Anyway…because of my love of libraries, I was thrilled when I got a recent request from the Interlochen Public Library to teach a single session on the basics of knitting. I would never say “no” to a public library. I would have even done it for free, but they are paying me a modest honorarium. Um, I think it’s the Friends of the Library who are actually footing the bill.

So, the session is Thursday, November 10, 6:00 to 8:00pm at the Interlochen Public Library. You can contact the IPL librarian, Janette Grice, for more information. Her email address is: jgrice@tadl.org

1 comment:

Congrats on the knitting class gig! Yes, libraries are wonderful. My first experience as a kid was a bookmobile that occasionally visited my rural two-room schoolhouse and the love affair with libraries grew from there!